Recent developments in digital technology have spurred the development and deployment of digital video transmission systems. Video content is typically distributed by satellite and cable service providers. More recently, video content has also been distributed via the Internet Protocol (IP) by telecommunication service providers.
Video content may be received by end users' video content receivers, such as digital set top box (STB) devices, which decode the video content for display on video display devices (e.g., televisions) connected to the video content receivers. Most of the video distribution systems also provide video-on-demand (VOD), permitting on-demand transmission of pre-recorded video content (e.g., one or more movies).
One existing VOD distribution mechanism includes transmission and recording of an entire video content (e.g., a movie) via a digital video recorder (DVR) of the video content receiver. Another VOD distribution mechanism includes multicast transmission of the video content at a predetermined start time via a single channel or multicast transmission of the video content via multiple channels staggered in start time. Yet another VOD distribution mechanism includes unicast transmission of the video content to each video content receiver upon demand. Hybrid unicast/multicast distribution mechanisms have also been provided.
The foregoing VOD distribution mechanisms have drawbacks. The storage of the video content via the DVR requires a significant amount of bulk storage at the video content receiver and may necessitate a playback delay until the entire video content is received by the video content receiver (e.g., at non-peak time). Multicast transmission via the single channel or multiple time-staggered channels necessitates a playback delay until the predetermined start time and requires significant network bandwidth for the time-staggered channels. Unicast transmission also requires significant network bandwidth as the video content may be individually transmitted to multiple video content receivers.